The Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives and Communications serves as the senior strategic communications and organizational initiatives leader for the Graduate School and provides executive-level leadership for institutional communications, graduate enrollment messaging, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning initiatives, and organizational visibility.
Reporting directly to the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, this position serves as a member of the Graduate School Executive Leadership Team and leads the development and execution of integrated strategies that advance graduate education, graduate admissions, enrollment growth, institutional reputation, student engagement, research visibility, and university priorities.
This position provides executive oversight for strategic communications, executive messaging, public-facing initiatives, graduate enrollment communications, institutional partnerships, digital engagement strategy, and cross-campus communication alignment. The Executive Director collaborates extensively with university leadership, academic colleges, enrollment management, university communications, student success units, graduate students, and external stakeholders to ensure coordinated messaging and strategic advancement of Graduate School priorities.
The position supervises communications and engagement personnel and provides strategic direction for organizational initiatives, communication planning, assessment metrics, and emerging opportunities that support the Graduate School’s mission and long-term strategic goals.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university’s tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service.
UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee’s flagship land-grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service.
UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation, and innovation leadership, all Vols are supported to advance professionally. Employees have access to career development and coaching, continued education, and an extensive list of development and training possibilities. The Volunteer employee experience implements structures and practices to attract and retain top-tier talent, fostering a strong staff community and supporting a culture of involvement and engagement for everyone.
The university holds a strong commitment to its land-grant mission of learning and engagement, with a tradition of service and leadership that carries that Volunteer spirit throughout the state and around the world. It has been ranked nationally as “Best Employer for New Graduates,” “One of America’s Best Large Employers,” and “Best Workplace for Women,” and has been designated as “Best Place for Working Parents” by Forbes Magazine.
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